MILF declares Kato band ‘lost command’
GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines—The Moro Islamic Liberation Front on Monday declared Ameril Ombra Kato and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters as a “lost command”, and said the renegade group was an “insignificant” force.
“Until he returns to the fold of the MILF, he is a lost command,” Ghadzali Jaafar, MILF political affairs chief, said.
Kato headed the MILF’s 105th Base Command based in Maguindanao but decided to separate from the main rebel group over disagreements on the handling of the peace process and for allegedly abandoning him in the aftermath of the 2008 violence that escalated after the government failed to sign the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD).
In December last year, he formalized his separation from the MILF and announced the formation of the BIFF.
Jaafar said the MILF repeatedly tried, but failed to convince Kato to return to its fold. He said that by defying the directive for him to follow the chain of command, Kato and his men have been declared a lost command.
Jaafar said the existence of Kato and his group could not affect the ongoing peace process.
“No, he is not. His group is insignificant,” he said.
But Moro National Liberation Front leader Nur Misuari said President Aquino was dealing with a fragmented MILF and any peace agreement reached with it would have virtually no effect.
“A big number of the military component of the MILF has already abandoned the leadership of Murad [Ebrahim],” Misuari said by phone last week.
He said Kato was not the only one who seceded from the MILF. He said there was also the group of Alim Mibantas of Butig in Lanao del Sur.
Another group in the Liguasan Marsh, whose leader he identified only as Sawab, has left the present leadership, Misuari said.
“Dealing with the MILF for a peace deal will not solve the problem (in Mindanao), in fact it will only aggravate the situation,” Misuari said.
Meanwhile, Jaafar said the violence that recently erupted in Maguindanao, which has already claimed the lives of more than a dozen combatants, was not MILF-instigated. He said it was also not an MILF action against BIFF forces.
Jaafar said the fighting, stemming from a land conflict, started when a commander of the BIFF attacked the area of the commander of the MILF’s 106th Base Command in Datu Piang.
The clashes eventually affected the nearby villages of Liong, Alunganen and Balanakan and has triggered massive evacuations, he said.
Jaafar said the MILF, in coordination with the International Monitoring Team, was trying to bring the fighting groups into a truce.
(With a report from Julie S. Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao)
